Hogwarts' Child
by PeaceAndPancakes
Summary: Somewhere in Hogwarts is a room built by the founders to house the Child of The School. Who is this girl and why is she here?
1. Chapter 1

Albus Dumbledore set his half-moon glasses on top of the letter. "I find it hard to believe-" "Must be imagining things" and "Not right in the head" were just a few of the phrases that the letter contained.

Less than 24 hours ago Harry Potter had witnessed the death of a fellow student, Cedric Diggory, and the rebirth of the darkest wizard in centuries, Lord Voldemort.

Dumbledore pulled a fresh piece of parchment toward himself and began thinking of a response to the lovely letter he received from the Minister of Magic, tapping his quill on the side of the ink pot as he thought.

He sat for a time pondering ways to begin his reply, "You incompetent fool" being the most polite wording that he could come up with. Taking a break, Dumbledore dropped his quill and reached across the pile of papers and books that littered his usually organized desk to a small glass bowl. Carefully, he chose a light brown Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. Popping it into his mouth he relaxed into his chair. "Ah, toffee," he thought closing his eyes.

As soon as he did so, a memory from three years prior flowed into his head.

_Harry Potter was lying in a bed in the hospital wing, Dumbledore sitting by his side trying his best to give Ha__rry the answers that he deserved without sharing too much. "I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?" he said and bit into a bean. "Alas! Ear wax!"_

The memory made Dumbledore smile, but things had changed drastically since then. His worst fears were coming true. Voldemort was back and the one person who can defeat him is only a boy. He hated to admit it but maybe just maybe there was nothing he could do. Even he had to admit defeat and let things play out on their own. What if he took a step back and let Voldemort and Harry do what they were destined to do, to let their fates take over.

No.

The only thing that would come of that would be death and destruction. He couldn't let the boy risk his life before it was time. He had to keep him safe, it was his duty, his promises to the wizarding world, his promise to James and Lily.

A new thought struck him then. The Order of the Phoenix. They hadn't meet in years but if Harry's account of what happened in the grave yard was true, then there was no better time to restart the Order. Surely the old members would support him and help recruit new members.

The wizard snatched up his discarded quill and began a list of the old members, Alastor Moody, Dedalus Diggle, Aberforth Dumbledore, Emmeline Vance, Arabella Figg, Severus Snape, Sturgis Podmore, Rebeus Hagrid, Elphias Doge, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin. Under those names he began a second list; Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Hesta Joans. He made a note to ask the others if they know anyone else they could trust that may want to join the Order and began to pen a letter to them.

Dumbledore was thinking about a time for the Order to have its first meeting when he realized something, last time the meetings were held at Marlene McKinnon's home but she was killed by Death Eaters during the last war. He glanced over his list debating the most likely place for a new headquarters.

'Severus', no Voldemort might figure that out. Alastor's, no he is too paranoid about having people around. The Weasley's house has too many ears about. Diggle, no…' He continued through the names in front of him. 'Hagrid, no. Doge, no. Sirius, no. Remus, no.' He stopped suddenly and his eyes moved back up the list.

Sirius. The Blacks. Grimmauld Place.

It would be the perfect place for the Order to have its headquarters. Big and empty. Sure there is the risk of Bellatrix and Narcissa also being relatives of the Blacks, but Sirius was the heir to the house and just like there are ways to hide a person, there are ways to hide a house. So what if the family who owned it had been and still were some of the biggest Voldemort supporters, the house has tons of extra rooms incase an order member needed to go into hiding for a while.

Coming to a decision, Dumbledore rolled up his list and gave it a tap with the end of his wand to seal it from prying eyes. Standing up he slipped both the paper and his wand into the pocket of his robe and left the room.

He made his way to the hospital wing where he knew Sirius would be sitting next to Harry's bed. It took him slightly longer than expected because curious and frightened students who should have been at breakfast were stopping him in the corridors to ask him questions. He did his best to put their fears to rest but there were some things that even he did not have the answers too. When he finally reached the hospital wing Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape were waiting outside the door.

"What brings you here?" McGonagall asked as he neared them.

"Order business," he replied in a low tone continuing past them and into the room. Curious, the two professors followed him.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were saying good-bye having spent the night at Harry's side to make sure he was alright even though Dumbledore assured them repeatedly that he would be fine. Harry's friends were crowed around his bed but there was no sign of Black among them.

Molly Weasley looked up as he entered the room. "Good morning Professor," she greeted him.

"Hello Molly, Arthur. Have you seen Sirius?" He hoped that they knew where he was, this was a very important matter that could not wait any longer than necessary, besides, he doubted a suspected killer could go very long in the castle with out being recognized considering what happened the year before.

"The last time I saw him he was muttering to himself. Something about having to go visit 'her,' a little crazy if you ask me." It was Ron Weasley who answered. Dumbledore felt Snape stiffen behind him.

The headmaster bowed his head in thanks and promptly turned around and headed back the way that he had come, barely noticing that Snape was following him.

"Sir," Snape caught up to him three staircases and several corridors later. "He couldn't have been taking about _her_, could he?"

"There is only one way to find out Severus." Dumbledore answered without slowing his pace.

"He cannot be there! He has no right!" The students who had previously stopped Dumbledore were now rushing to get out of the way of their headmaster and the angry potions professor.

"Why not?" Dumbledore answered in a tone that makes most seventh years cower. "He knows her too."

"It's his fault! Him and his friends! If they had never-"

"Enough!" Dumbledore stopped and turned to face Snape. "If I remember correctly, Severus, you had something to do with it also. I need to speak to him. This is about more than an old sixth year rivalry. If you have an issue with this than you can take it up with Gwenica, I'm sure she would find your reasons for not visiting her fascinating."

"I-" Severus began but Dumbledore was already fifteen paces away.

Dumbledore continued on his way, but when he reached the portrait of a wizard in an overly large feathered hat he turned to the left instead of going to the right which would eventually lead him to the great hall. He continued in this direction until he reached the statue of Boris and Edwin, brothers who cut each others hands off during a duel. At the statue he turned once again to the left and continued. He was now in a corridor that was only used by students who were either very lost or were looking for a place to be alone, it was a school full of teenagers after all. Halfway down the hall he turned once again to the left and headed up a short, narrow set of steps that was almost hidden in the wall.

His foot steps slowed and then stopped as he neared another statue.

"Hello Gwen" he said to the statue of a winged boar as he placed his hand flat on its head.

The statue blinked, "Albus," it said with a slight bow. As the boar bowed the stones of the wall behind it began to shift revealing in entry way.

The wizard hesitated before entering. The last time he was here was years ago, nineteen to be exact, back when the accident happened. Several times he was tempted to come, but he chose not to because he knew the temptation to try to fix it would be too great.

He stepped into the common room. It looked as if it was still being used. A pair of discarded shoes lay beside the couch as if someone had kicked them off before sinking into one of the plum colored couches. On the table before the couch lay an open potions book, a half finished essay beside it, a quill resting on top, the ink pot still open and half full as if someone stopped mid-sentence to do something more important. It was a room stuck in time, spotless but untouched. He half expected a laughing student to come thought the door.

He made a mental note to thank the house-elves for keeping the room clean without disrupting anything. That's when he noticed it. On the wall on the right hand side of the room was the door that leads to the dormitory, and it was partially open.

Without hesitation he crossed the room and pushed it open the rest of the way. His eyes swept across an armchair in the corner, a cloak lying across one arm. Books littered the floor around a heavy wooden trunk with AJH written across the lock in silver letters like someone had forgotten to but them back. The bedside table held only a wand.

Dumbledore's eyes then rested on the form of a sixteen year old girl. She was lying in the bed, a blanket the same shade of purple as the couches in the other room covering her lower half. In a second armchair near the bed with his back to Dumbledore sat Sirius Black. He approached the two unmoving forms and placed his hand on Sirius' shoulder. He looked down at the girl, her black hair lying neatly against the pillow, eyes closed as if she was asleep. It was a girl frozen in time for all of these years.

"It was an accident. A joke gone wrong. We didn't mean for this to happen, not to her. God no, especially not to her."

"I know that this was not your intentions Sirius." He gave the younger man's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Then why haven't you done anything for her?" his voice was not accusing but instead he seemed to be pleading.

"There are some things that cannot be fixed and we have to adjust to living with out them. However, there are things that can be fixed but only if you know how they were broken." Dumbledore tore his gaze from the girl and fixed it on the top of Sirius' head.

The younger wizard sighed before asking, "What did James tell you?"

Dumbledore was quite for a minute, recalling the conversation he had had with James Potter years prior. "He came to me a few weeks after and told me that you and the others were distressed about the events so he decided to come forward and tell me what really happened that night."

Sirius stopped him before he could say any more. "When James went to you Remus and Peter were in detention and I was in the hospital wing."

Dumbledore nodded. "That is why I never tried the incantation with the information from him."

"What do you mean?" Sirius finally lifted his head to face the older man.

"You can never tell with events like this. If you want to undo a… lets call it a charm. If you want to undo a charm like this one, you have to know what spells where used to create it. And most importantly what order they were said in. If one is out of order or incorrect then the consequences could be more then anyone would expect."

Sirius returned his gazed to the girl. "None of us understood what was happening. We expected you would have Slughorn brew up a potion and everything would go back to how it was. By the time we found out that that wasn't possible we were afraid to tell you what really happened."

"I remember what it was like being young. Afraid of doing something because of the consequences. But in the end doing more harm by not doing it." Dumbledore turned to leave, all thoughts of Grimmauld Place pushed from his mind.

"Impedimenta." The professor half turned back to Sirius. "Impedimenta. It's the one that I used." When Dumbledore didn't respond he continued. "Peter was to frightened and ran to you to tell which he used, Snape would have told you his the night of the accident and made sure the other Slytherins told theirs too. I'm sure Moony gave you his last year when he was teaching. And James, well I know that he wrote it down and put it somewhere safe, which I am positive you have located by now. The only one that you needed was mine."

Dumbledore merely smiled to himself before continuing toward the door. Sirius' voice once again stopped him.

"Professor? You act as though you knew that this was going to happen to her. When it did I was torn apart, the others were hurt as well. It was like there was a spell cast on us, even the Slytherins. But you just nodded and got that all-knowing look on your face. Why?"

Dumbledore turned once again to find that Sirius was now standing and staring at him intensely, wanting answers. He knew that Sirius would not let him leave unless he got the information that he desired.

"There are some things in life that cannot be controlled. This is what we call fate." He laced his fingers together in front of himself.

"Fate?"

"Yes fate. It's a funny thing some times."

"Sorry, I don't follow." Sirius was gazing at him curiously.

"Do you remember back in your first year? During History of Magic, someone asked about the history of Hogwarts." Sirius nodded slowly, indicating that he remembered. "Do you remember that it mentioned a prophecy?"


	2. Chapter 2

"You want me to what?" Asha's eyes flew from the blank brick wall that separated platforms 9 and 10 to her father's face.

The man laughed and stopped the cart in front of the barrier. "All you have to do is walk through the wall. It is simple really."

His daughter looked up at him blankly, not believing him even though this must have been the tenth time he explained it to her since they left home. A ruffle of feathers brought her attention to the barn owl in the cage that was balanced on top of her wooden trunk. Three weeks ago owls were just an animal that lived in the woods behind their house and kept the mice away, now she owned one. As for magic, it was something only to be used when necessary and now she was on her way to a school that would teach her how to use it. So why should walking though walls surprise her?

Cautiously, she stepped toward the barrier. Slowly she lifted her right hand and placed it against the cool bricks, pushing with her fingers, testing to see if he was trying to trick her. The wall felt solid beneath her fingers but there was another feeling there, one she could not quite identify.

Somewhere behind her a woman screamed. Asha turned to see when it came from but all she saw was a blur of black and red before something collided with her. She fell backward in a tangle of limbs.

It took her a few seconds to realize that the thing that ran into her was another human.

"JAMES!" The woman screamed again, appearing to have just walked through the wall. Asha and the other person scrambled to their feet as her dad and another man appeared behind the woman. "I told you not to run!"

"Asha, are you alright?" Her father rushed to her side.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She rubbed where her elbow had smashed into the platform.

"Do you believe me now?"

As he spoke she looked around her, she was no on Kingscross. Instead she was standing on a train platform surrounded by groups of people seeing off their children. Some were wearing funny clothes, some were holding cages with owls in them, others were lugging heavy trunks onto the gleaming scarlet train, around her kids were running up and down the platform calling out and looking for friends.

Tearing her eyes from the scene around her, she smiled up at her dad but he was not looking at her. His attention was on the man and woman who's son had plowed into her.

"Robert? Mary?" The couple turned from their child to look at Asha and her father.

"Charles? That can't be you!" said the man who her father had addressed as Robert. The two men laughed and embraced each other like old friends. "What brings you here?"

"Same as you," her dad laughed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. "Is that James?"

"Yes, the little menace that tried to take out Asha." Mary smiled down at her. "Sorry about that dear, he gets a little excited." Asha glanced at the boy in front of her. He looked to be the same age as her with unruly black hair that stuck up at odd angles and like her, wore glasses. James half smiled at her in apology. "It has been far too long. The last time we saw you two was-" She stopped suddenly and looked down at Asha.

Asha looked from the woman to her father. She had no memory of the family standing before them. They must have been friends of her parents before the accident, before her father decided to leave the magical world behind. He rarely spoke about things from back then.

She always knew about magic and the world her parents grew up in but as her father explained to her, magic is something that is not to be fooled around with, and her mother was an example of that.

James looked at the adults and then at Asha, "We should find a compartment before they are full."

Thankful for his distraction and an excuse to get away from the reminiscing adults, Asha looked up at her dad for permission. "You two go ahead. We will be right there with the trunks."

Asha and James set off along the platform, barley speaking to one another they looked into compartments as they went. Along the way they caught bits and pieces of conversations from the groups around them. A group of older students were huddled together talking, "I can't believe Tutle is Prefect, it should have been you." A blond boy their age was pushing something wrapped in brown paper back toward his mother, "Mom, I don't need another one." A girl was running around looking for her friend, "Have you seen Alice?" Finally they found an empty compartment toward the end of the train and waited for their parents to catch up.

"So our parents know each other…" James trailed off.

"It looks that way." Asha did not know what to say but decided it would be better to talk than to stand in silence. "My dad used to have a lot of wizard friends. But then my mom died and we moved. He sort of gave up magic." She had no idea why she was sharing all of this with him.

"Gave up magic?"

"Yeah, he does everything without magic. Well, most things. He uses it when something breaks or when something falls behind the couch and he can't reach."

"So he cooks and cleans the muggle way even though he doesn't have to?" The wide eyed look on his face made Asha laugh.

Before she could answer their parents emerged from the crowd and after a few smashed fingers and some swearing when James' dad dropped his trunk on his foot, they were settled in the compartment.

Asha jumped off the train and threw her arms around her dad. "Good luck at school," he said hugging her goodbye. "Don't get into too much trouble."

"Love you," she grinned up at him. Next to them James was saying goodbye to his mom and dad, as were students all along the platform.

The train gave a loud whistle that made Asha jump. "Better get going kid." Her dad pulled her in for one more hug. "I'll see you at Christmas."

She joined the line of students climbing onto the train, looking back once before boarding to wave to her dad. As the train began to pull away from the station she sank back onto the seat and watched the platform disappear.

"You were joking about you dad, right?" James sat down diagonally from her and put his feet up on the bench beside her.

She looked down at his shoes, they looked brand new. As her eyes moved to his face she noted that both his jeans and shirt also appeared new. "No. He only uses magic when he has to." Looking down at her own discolored and worn out shoes, she continued, "He believes that magic is a tool that should be reserved for important tasks not abused."

"And fixing a broken dish is important?" James smirked.

Asha rolled her eyes. "What I meant was-" She stopped speaking at the sound of the compartment door sliding open.

Looking up she saw two boys standing in the doorway. The one who had opened the door had short blond hair and a round face. He wore a gray sweater supporting Manchester United. Standing slightly behind him was a slightly shorter boy with shaggy hair, dark hair and eyes.

"Mind if we join you?" The blond asked, looking between Asha and James.

"Someone set threw a Dungbomb into our compartment." The shorter boy explained with a laugh.

"Did they?" James put his feet on the floor. "I can't wait until we get to school. I have a feeling that stuff like that is going to happen all the time. My dad told me that as long as you are smart about it, you can get away with anything. I'm James and this is Asha." She offered a smile when her name was said.

The blond sat down across from her, "I'm Sean."

"Sirius." The other boy sat beside her, across from James.

"Are you two related?"

Asha looked at Sean with wonder. Did he really thing she and James were related? Her gaze moved to James who was looking at Sean with the same sense of wonder. Sean must have realized his mistake because the next thing that he said was, "I mean that you two look a little alike, like you could be brother and sister."

"No, we're not." Asha shook her head, "I don't have any siblings."

"Me either," James replied.

"Lucky." Sirius sighed, "I have a younger brother." He did not appear to enjoy this fact. It sounded as though he resented his sibling. Asha wanted to ask him about it but was unsure if she should. Sirius might consider it rude if she were to start asking personal questions.

"What does that mean?" James was motioning to the words on Sean's sweater.

"Manchester United? It's a football team. My dad works for them." Sean explained with a nod.

"Football?" James was looking at him with an expression that Asha could only call confusion. A glance at Sirius told her that he also had no idea what Sean was talking about.

"It's like quidditch-" Asha began.

"Like what?" Now Sean was staring at her.

"Quidditch." She repeated before detailing both games in terms that everyone could understand, comparing positions in the muggle game to those in the wizarding one and explaining the rules of the very different but similar sports.

"I though you lived like a muggle," James commented when she was finished.

"Yes, but I never said that I didn't know about the magical world. Just because someone doesn't use magic doesn't mean they aren't part of the world." She was beginning to get annoyed at his constant questions. "Did you hear about the game between the Cannons and Warlocks?" Before she finished the last word, James and Sirius dove into a rant about the legality of the moves that the Cannons' chasers used in the game.

Asha listened to their conversation, occasionally interjecting her own opinions and explaining some of the moves and techniques to Sean. "They almost killed Morgan when they did that last one!" Sirius half yelled. "Are you alright?"

He was looking at Sean who had gone pale. "I… I've never…ridden…a train…before." His hand went to his mouth like he was going to be sick.

Asha's eyes widened. "Let's find a bathroom." She reached for his arm and helped him out of the compartment.

"Thanks," his body gave a jerk like he was going to barf.

"Just don't do it on me." She lead him in the direction that she hoped there would be a restroom or trash bin, either would be better then the floor or worse, her shoes.

She found a bathroom at the end of the car and waited outside of it. Between the shrieks of laughter coming from a compartment with an open door, she could hear a deep voice telling someone about Hogwarts. He was describing in great detail the grounds, the lake, and the great hall. She closed her eyes and tried to picture herself in these places.

She was sitting at a long wooden table with James, Sean, and Sirius. Mounds of food were on the table before them, still hot after their trip up from the kitchen. James scooped a heaping spoonful of pudding onto his plate with a grin on his face. From above them came a screech, looking up at the image of the sky that was projected on the ceiling she spotted the owls flying in to deliver the mail. Simian, the owl her dad had recently purchased for her landed in front of her, dropping a letter onto her plate before taking off again. As he did so one of his wings hit Sean's arm mid drink, sending his pumpkin juice onto his lap. Sirius and James roared with laughter.

A retching sound from the bathroom brought Asha's mind back to the train. Sean finally exited the bathroom, once again thanking Asha before they headed back to their compartment.

Much to their surprise the door flew open when they reached it. From inside came girl with red hair and a boy with long slimy black hair who was already dressed in his school robes. They seemed upset by something. Asha smiled at them when they passed but the two barely looked at her.

"So what house do you think you are going to be in?" Sirius asked once they had settled back in.

"My dad was a Hufflepuff and my mom was a Ravenclaw, so I don't know. I think I will be one of those two."

"I will stop talking to you if you are a Hufflepuff." James laughed.

"What's a Huffpuffle?" Asha, James, and Sirius laughed at the confused look that was on Sean's face.

When the train finally reached its destination Asha and the others joined the crowd of students trying to get off of the train and into the fresh air. It was now evening and the lights overhead cast strange shadows on the faces of other students as they made their way toward what appeared to be carriages that did not need horses,

"Firs' Years!" A voice boomed through the crowd. "Firs' years o've here!"

"This way." Sirius motioned in the direction of a light that was swinging above the heads of students a little ways away. The four of them headed to the moving light. As they got closer, Asha noticed that the light was actually a lantern and it was being held by a rather large man in a long coat.

The man led them down a bank toward a cluster of little boats that lined the shore of a lake. As instructed they climbed into the boats and as one, the little fleet set off across the water.

"Woah…" Sean was the first to spot the glowing castle. Asha turned to where he was looking and saw the outline of a huge castle before them, every window glowing from within. The castle continued to grow larger as they got nearer so that it was impossible to look at anything else.

The large man led them out of their boats and up a set of stone steps. Asha could not help looking around her as they went, trying to take everything in. The group stopped in front of a heavy wooden door, he knocked on it several times. A few seconds passed and the door swung open to reveal a woman in a dark green robe with square glasses.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." The woman spoke with authority. "I am Professor McGonagall. Soon you will enter the great hall and be sorted into your houses." The woman described the sorting process and what they were to do once the sorting hat announced their house. "Ready?" It wasn't a question.

Asha and the others followed McGonagall through another door and across what she guessed was the entry way of the school. With a flourish McGonagall pushed open the double doors and Asha found herself walking into the great hall.

The description that she had overheard on the train did not do justice to the room. The long tables filled with students lined the path to a fifth, where a group of older wizards and witches sat. She guessed that these must be the teachers. She soon found that she was looking straight up at the night sky, reflected by the enchanted ceiling.

"Hey!" Sirius gave a little yell as she ran into him. She looked down from the ceiling to find herself standing in front of the professor's table.

"Sorry," she mumbled. Professor McGonagall was placing a tattered hat onto a three legged stool before them. As she stepped back from the stool, a rip in the hat opened and it seemed to start singing. It's song was about truth and how it can change everything. When the song finished the professor took a scroll out of her pocket and read the first name.

"Alcott, Zara." A tall girl with long blond hair made her way to the front where she sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head. Asha leaned forward, waiting to see what would happen.

"Ravenclaw!" From behind her one of the tables erupted with cheers. Zara took off the hat and rushed to join her new house.

Faye Baton became a Slytherin and then McGonagall read the name "Black, Sirius." Asha watched her new friend approach the hat and cram it on. When the sorting hat announced "Gryffindor" a smile spread across his face and he flashed a thumbs-up in their direction before running to join his house.

Patiently Asha waited as C through G were sorted. "Harris, Asha." Time seemed to slow down as she walked toward the sorting hat which seemed to be farther away than it was before. She had not noticed how many people were in the great hall until she sat down facing them. Gently she set the sorting hat on her head and waited. Looking out she spotted Sirius at the Gryffindor table, he was still grinning. James and Sean were standing together among the other first years waiting to be sorted, laughing about something.

"I've been waiting for you." Asha jumped, not expecting the sorting hat to talk to her. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

"What are you talking about?" She asked the hat.

"I never thought that I would see this day. They would be pleased to know you are here. Do you think everyone is paying attention? I want them all to hear this."

"Umm, I think so…" Asha was not sure what the sorting hat was talking about.

"Ready?"

"Yes…"

"HOGWARTS!"


	3. Chapter 3

This time no one cheered when the sorting hat made its announcement. Asha looked out at the house tables, students were whispering back and forth while others just stared at her with open mouths. James seemed to be explaining something to Sean. Asha saw his mouth form the words 'I don't know.'

Hesitantly, Asha turned to McGonagall. The professor seemed to be in shock, the list of names now on the floor at her feet. She must have dropped it when the sorting hat spoke. The woman blinked a few times and seemed to regain her composure as she turned to face the head table.

"Albus," McGonagall's voice was uncertain. Asha turned to see who she was addressing.

At the center of the table a wizard was on his feet. He was watching her over his half moon glasses, his white beard reaching down to the middle of his chest. Despite his once broken nose and the slight frown on his face, Asha sensed compassion in his eyes, the same eyes that seemed to be studying her.

"What's going on?" A voice asked from the sea of students. This seemed to bring the old wizard out of his trance. To Asha, he appeared to float as he pushed back his chair and rounded the end of the table.

"Continue the sorting," he spoke as he crossed the space between them. "Miss Harris, follow me."

He spoke with an authority that made Asha not question him. Trying to ignore the growing noise from the mass of students she slid off of the stool and placed the now silent sorting hat on it. Once she was on her feet the wizard turned and headed through a side door. Asha hurried to follow.

He lead her through the castle, turning corner after corner and going up stairs until she was dizzy and sure that she would never be able to find her way back. Finally he came to a stop before a stone statue of a gargoyle that sat in an alcove. "Chocolate frog." As the professor said the words the gargoyle came to life, stepping to the side to reveal a set of winding stone steps.

At the top of the steps they encountered another door. He opened it to reveal an office whose walls were almost completely covered with portraits of wizards and witches. On every surface was a collection of shiny objects, a number of which were in motion.

"Please have a seat," he motioned for her to sit in the chair facing the large wooden desk. "I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts." While he introduced himself he took a seat behind the desk.

"Sir," she found her voice. "What just happened?"

He folded his hands on top of his desks. "I was hoping you would be able to tell me."

"Sir, I-"

"Where is the child?" A grey figure burst through the closed door.

"Helena, how nice of you to join us. Perhaps you could help us figure out what is going on here." Asha was shocked to see that he did not seem at all surprised by the sudden interruption of a ghost.

"Is this her?" The ghost had stopped in front of her and was leaning down to get a good look at her face. "She doesn't look like the founders. Tell me child, what connection do you have to my mother?"

Asha looked from the ghost to the wizard. "I don't know."

"Helena, please explain what you are talking about." Asha was thankful that he appeared to be just as confused as she.

Helena stood up straight, "Have you not heard the story? The prophecy? The child of the school?" When Dumbledore remained silent, she continued. "When I was a child my mother used to tell me a story…"

_Rowena Ravenclaw crossed the entrance hall of the half erected school. She had just finished supervising the building of what would make a great tower for students to one day study astronomy from and was looking forward to a hot meal in the great hall._

_BANG-_

_A loud knock startled her. She hurried toward the front door and pulled it open. Before her stood an elderly witch in a dirty traveling cloak, the hood pulled up covering most of her face._

"_Come in." Rowena stepped aside to let the woman in. She led her into the great hall and helped her into one of the chairs that sat at the one small table in the giant room._

"_I am glad to have found you here," the woman pushed back her hood, revealing long grey hair that was wound up into a tight knot and a kind face that was worn with travel and age. "I have been traveling for so long."_

"_Where are you traveling to?" Rowena was curious to find out what would cause a woman of this age to be traveling so far and all alone._

"_I came to find you."_

"_Pardon?"_

"_I awoke one Thursday morning about two months ago and I heard a voice. It told me to set out for the place that would become a school. And once I arrived I was to locate those who were creating it. I assume that you are that person." The woman motioned across the table toward Rowena._

"_I am one of them, the others are working. I can summon them if you would like." She was growing evermore curious as to why this witch had been sent here._

"_If you would." The woman smiled. _

"_Buckly!" Rowena called out to the empty room. Almost instantly a loud crack sounded and a house elf appeared before the two women. "Tell the others that someone is here, it is important and they should hurry." The elf bowed before disappearing again. "Is there anything we can get you?"_

_The woman did not answer. Rowena leaned closer and saw that her eyes were closed. Having traveled this far, surely she could use a rest. Rowena decided not to disturb her until the others arrived._

_A short time later foot steps could be heard in the entry. "I still think that creating rooms that change is a-" Salazar stopped talking when he saw the woman. "Is she alright?" _

_Rowena looked back at the woman, as she did so the woman's eyes flew open except that instead of pupils they were all white. The woman's mouth began to move as a voice that did not belong began to speak. _

"_Of the great four, one shall be born._

_The child of the school brings truth_

_In a time when none can be trusted._

_But beware the living tree for here lies the end._

_When the worm finds its way in,_

_The horn will sound loud._

_With the moon above and the star in sight,_

_The child shall rest at the base of the noble._

_As so shall remain until fact and order."_

_When it was over the woman's eyes closed again only to reopen a second later._

"_Where am I?" The woman looked at the faces of the two witches and two wizards that were watching her so intently._

"_She doesn't remember." Godric spoke. "I will take her home and make sure she is safe." He crossed to the woman and put out his hand._

"_Allow me to come with you." Helga joined them. The three of them disappeared on the spot and Rowena exchanged worried looks with Salazar. _

"_Do you think that was real?" Salazar asked taking the woman's seat._

"_It must have been. Before you got here she was talking about how she was sent here," she began telling what happened prior to their arrival in the great hall. _

"_She is safely at home with her memory modified." Helga announced as they reappeared. She and Godric took the remaining chairs at the small table. "What does it mean?"_

_There was a silence as the four friends pondered what had happened. Godric was the first to speak, "It may mean many things but perhaps we should forget this happened until the school is finished. We have much on our minds as it is." Helga nodded in agreement, as did Rowena and Salazar. _

_The four stood and began to leave. "Salazar," Rowena touched his arm._

_He glanced at the door to check that the others were too far away to hear, "I will take care of things."_

"This is the school and it would appear that she," Helena pointed a misty finger as Asha. "She is the child."

Asha stared at the ghost trying to find meaning in what she had said. _Child of the school, fact and order_. What was she talking about? Dumbledore's expression gave the impression that he was thinking the same thing.

"What happened after that? Did Rowena mention anything?" Dumbledore asked.

"Naturally she was concerned about the events and so was Salazar. According to her, when they created the common rooms for the four houses, he created a fifth. A room for the child. _I_ was never told where it was." The ghost had a tone of resentment in her voice when she said the last part.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "That poses a bit of a dilemma."

Were they going to send her home?

"Are you sure she never said anything?" Dumbledore asked again.

"No, she said that-" the ghost stopped mid sentence. "Ask her."

Asha looked up, Helena was once again pointing at her. "Me?"

"Mother said that the child knows where the common room is located. She said that only the child will be able to locate it. So, where is it?"

"I… I don't know where it is." Asha looked to Dumbledore for help.

"I have an idea." Dumbledore said pushing his chair back and standing up. "Miss Harris please come with me." He led her from the room and down the stairs. "Which way?" he held out his hands, pointing in either direction.

Asha gave him a blank look.

"Which way do you believe your common room is?" he restated the question.

Asha looked down the hallway to her left and saw only more doorways, occasionally there was a statue, painting, or suite of armor along the wall. She then looked to the right and saw the same thing.

Curious she looked up at Dumbledore, he was staring at the air in front of them, waiting for an answer.

"Left," she randomly chose a direction knowing that the wizard would not move until she answered.

"Excellent." He began down corridor on the left, Asha hurrying to catch up. This was repeated at the next intersection, and the one after that, and then at the foot of a staircase. Soon Asha was walking in front of Dumbledore, taking turns when she felt she should and walking up flights of steps. She paused when she came to a statue of two wizards, both had their wands out as if they were dueling, their other hands were missing.

"This way," she led Dumbledore to the left. She could feel it. She didn't know how but as she moved through the castle something inside of her drew her to this area. She knew that they were getting closer because it felt like she belonged there.

She paused again when she saw a tapestry that depicted at tree. She examined its moving branches for a minute before turning up a short flight of steps that were directly opposite the tapestry. A short way down the corridor she spotted a statue. As she got closer she recognized the statue as a sitting boar that came to just above her waist.

Asha did not know what made her do it but she reached out her hand and placed it on the boar's head. The stone felt warm beneath her skin and it seemed to move. Wait, it did move.

"Welcome," the words came from the mouth of the boar as it dipped his head in a bow. When the boar did so the stones in the wall behind it began to shift to reveal the entrance of a common room.

Asha stepped into the room. Three fourths of the room's walls were curved, the stones were a light shade of silver grey with deep red hangings. Windows lined the walls giving her a magnificent view of the lake and grounds. Under the window with the best view was a desk that was built to fit the shape of the room and a yellow chair, perfect for studying. In the center of the room a blue rug covered the stone floor, on the rug two deep purple couches were facing each other with table between them. On the only flat wall was a door, she pushed it open to see a bedroom that's walls completed the circle, a four poster bed and several chairs the same shade of purple decorated the inside. At the foot of the bed was her trunk.

"Everyday I learn something new about this school." She had forgotten Dumbledore was in the room. He was standing in the middle of the room looking around.

"Sir, what happens now?" Asha questioned.

"Now? We wait and see what happens. I do not know what this means but I can tell you that you are at this school to learn. You will be treated the same as every other student in your year. You are not exempt from any rules and you will be held to the same standards."

"I would not expect it to be any other way, sir." She did not want to be treated any different.

"If you do not have any questions then I suggest you get ready for bed, classes begin tomorrow." He paused, giving her a chance to speak.

"Actually, since I missed the feast…" She was slightly ashamed that the one thing that popped into her mind was how hungry she was.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Of course, I will have the elves send up something. Good night Miss Harris."

"Night Professor." Dumbledore turned and left her room.

Asha looked around the room again, taking in the books on the shelves and the photos on the walls. When she turned around again she noticed a full plate on the table. Eagerly she dug into it.


	4. Chapter 4

Asha wandered the halls the next morning in search of the Great Hall. Considering that she had no idea where she was in the castle her only hope was to find a statue or something that looked familiar that would let her know that she was not as lost as she felt. The only problem was that she could not find anything familiar, her head had been in such a strange place last night.

"Lost?" Startled, she looked around for the speaker. She was alone in the hallway. "Over hear." There it was again, The Voice. There was no one coming toward her and after spinning in a quick circle she established that as she had thought that she was in fact alone in the hall. Was she hearing voices? If so, that had to be a bad sign.

Figuring that her imagination was making up things she continued on her way but did not get far when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Wanting to catch what ever it was before it had the chance to disappear, she spun her head quickly, making herself a little dizzy in the process. A wizard with bushy eyebrows was watching her from a painting.

She hoped the voice had come from the wizard because if not… "Um, yes. Can you tell me how to get to the Great Hall?" She was glad she was alone in the corridor, she felt foolish enough talking to a painting that she didn't need someone to whiteness it.

The wizard smiled kindly down at her before launching into a detailed explanation of how to get to the Great Hall that she was sure she would never remember. It was something about taking 59 steps down this corridor, taking a left, walking for 24 steps, then down 17 steps… She listened carefully trying to remember the left and rights.

When the wizard finally finished by saying "and then you open the doors to the Great Hall" Asha continued to stare at him, wondering how he could possibly know all of that. Maybe he had built part of the castle, been a student here, or even taught here. "You better hurry up, don't want to miss breakfast."

His words brought her back to earth. "Thank you," she muttered. Slightly, relieved that she had been heading in the correct direction, she continued on her way still not sure if the wizard had been any help.

Asha took the time to look around at her surroundings as she made her way along the corridors. She passed statues of witches, wizards, and other magical beings. She stopped for a while in front of one, trying to figure out what kind of being it was depicting. Its body resembled that of a horse with the head of a lion and feet of a bird. Out of its head was sticking a gleaming pair of antlers similar to that of a deer.

Curious, Asha reached out a hand and ran her fingers along one of the antlers. What was this strange creature? She mentally scrolled through the list of animals that she knew, both magical and non. The closest she could find was a creature her dad had described as having the body of a horse and the head of an eagle, but this was clearly not one of those.

She studied the statue, trying to remember every last detail of it so that she could describe it in a letter to her father, maybe he would know what it was because not knowing was driving her crazy. Suddenly she jumped, pricking her finger on the end of a horn. Did it just wink at her? No… it was a statue, it couldn't have. Quickly she shook the thought out of her head. Statues do not blink and that is the end of it. But they do bow and talk like the boar did last night and then again this morning as she was leaving. She was beginning to thing that anything was possible at this point.

Asha stuck her now throbbing index finger in her mouth and sucked where it was bleeding. Now was not the time to think about statues, she had to find her way to breakfast. With one last glance at the lion horse she continued on her way to the Great Hall.

She knew she was getting close when she heard laughter coming from around the corner. Speeding up she rounded the corner and she found herself approaching the top of a grand staircase, a pair of older students were walking toward the stairs from the opposite side. They reached the top of the stairs at the same time.

The two students stopped. "Morning." Asha felt she had to say something since they were staring at her. Neither of them replied, instead they hurried down the stairs, glancing back when they reached the bottom.

Asha sighed before descending the steps and heading toward the Great Hall. She had never been great at making friends with new people but they didn't usually run away from her like that. She stopped just inside the door and looked around. At the far end of the room the professors were seated along the head table, chatting with each other. Dumbledore was leaning forward to talk to someone farther down the table. All along the four other tables students were grouped together laughing over bacon and eggs. Looking at the four house tables she realized that she had no where to sit.

Everyone else was seated with their houses, people they had been chosen to live with. She was apparently in her own house, which now that she though about it made no sense to her whatsoever.

Someone pushed past her on their way into the hall. She felt silly. She had no one to sit with, she only knew three people at Hogwarts and her chances of finding them among the crowd were slim, especially since more and more students were filing into the room. She spotted an empty place at the end of the table at the far left of the room and headed toward.

"Asha!" Someone yelled to her as she passed. Sean was waving to her from the end of the table nearest her. He motioned for her to join him.

Glad that she did not have to sit by herself, she made her way through the other students and slid onto the bench opposite him. "You're the girl the gray lady was talking about." The boy next to Sean looked up when she sat down. She didn't know what to say.

"Yeah," Sean answered for her. "We rode together on the train." He shoved a large fork full of egg into this mouth.

"Lucky." He turned back to Asha, "I'm Oliver. What did the prophecy say? She wouldn't tell us." The boy bounced slightly in his seat. He seemed eager to find out more. Maybe the other two students ran from her for the same reason, maybe they too knew about it and were just to shy to ask so they avoided her. After all that is what people in the muggle world do when they see famous people.

Maybe she was famous! No. She quickly pushed that though out of her head and tossed it into the nearest trash bin. She was not famous and nor did she want to be but there was something odd going on. First the two students ran from her, then Sean and his friend welcome her like a long lost friend… weird.

Asha reached across the table for a piece of toast and tried to play it cool. "How do you know about that?"

"She told us about it last night in the common room." Oliver pointed a finger toward the entry. Turning in her seat Asha saw that he was pointing toward the ghost from Dumbledore's office. "She is our house ghost."

Asha nodded in understanding. "I didn't really understand what it said. Dumbledore had no idea either." She was tempted to add 'If he did, he didn't tell me.'

Oliver swallowed his mouthful, "bummer."

"Is it true that you have your own common room?" a new voice joined their conversation. A group of older students that were seated next to them at the table were waiting for her answer.

Under their gaze, she began to describe the inside of her common room. In return the Ravenclaws, as she had learned, told her about theirs. She was interested to know how the common rooms were set up to accommodate the number of students in each house, but they seemed more interested in learning about hers.

To her relief their attention was grabbed by a short professor who was making his was down one side of the table. As he neared them, Asha noticed that he was handing something to the students at their table as he passed. A quick survey of the room showed that three more professors were doing likewise at the other tables. "Mr. Oberlin" The man handed a paper to Oliver.

"Our schedules!" Oliver began examining his at once. The stout man laughed and handed one to Sean. Then his eyes rested on Asha.

"Miss Harris," his voice squeaked a bit when he said her name. Asha looked at him, he was not holding on to any more schedules and she was too afraid to ask for hers. What if there was not one for her? What if they did not know what to do with her?

In one swift movement, the professor pulled a wand out of his robes and waved it in the direction of the head table. A few seconds later, a paper was floating through the air toward them. The wizard stretched out his hand and the paper landed gracefully in it. He held it out to her, "For you my dear." Asha took her schedule and thanked him.

"What class do you have first?" Sean was leaning across the table to get a look.

Asha examined the paper in her hands. "This morning I have Defense Against the Dark Arts and then History of Magic. Then Transfigura-" Her schedule flew out of her hands.

Across the table Sean had pushed his plate to the side and was laying the two papers next to each other. "We have History of Magic, Herbology, and Astronomy together. I wonder who you are with for the others…" he trailed of as he continued to read them. Asha watched him with mild amusement while eating the remainders of her breakfast.

Once they had finished eating they joined the crowd of students that were heading back to their dorms for their things for their classes. Asha found herself being swept along in a direction that she did not recognize. Afraid that she would get lost, she ducked down a corridor and out of the stream of students. Which way was back to her common room? She needed to find it soon or she would be late for her very first class.

She waited for the students to pass before heading back to the Great Hall. She stood at the top of the staircase and looked at her options. When she came down that morning she had come from the right so that must be the way back. She began to slowly retrace her steps.

By the time she reached the boar statue she knew that she did not have much time before her first class was to start. She grabbed The Dark Forces: A Guide To Self-Protection and A History of Magic and shoved them into her bag before rushing from the room. She was halfway down the corridor when a though hit her. Once again she had no idea where she was going. She was going to be late for her very first class at Hogwarts. Did they give out detentions for that?

She spun, looking for another painting that she could ask but the walls were bare, the only thing other than herself in that hallway was the boar. Might as well try, what is the worst that could happen, nothing?

Asha approached the statue, "Can you tell me how to get to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom?" She felt ridiculous talking to a statue.

To her surprise a kind voice replied. "Trust in yourself and follow your feet, my dear, and you can get anywhere within Hogwarts castle that you desire."

"Thank you…" she wanted to call the statue by a name but she could not think of one.

"Gwenica. My name is Gwenica. But you Asha, may call me Gwen."

"Thank you Gwen." She smiled at the statue before heading down the corridor once again. Follow her feet. That was going to be easy considering that her feet were attached to her and she had no choice but to follow them. Trust herself. What did that mean?

She found that she was standing in front of the statue of the two one handed wizards with a choice to make. Which way, was it straight? Or was it to the right? Her mind flashed back to the night before when Dumbledore was asking her how to get to her common room, when he would stop at every intersection, staircase, and door only to ask the same question. 'Which way?'

At the time she had been picking random directions with the hope of finding something. But the more she though about Gwen's words, the more it made sense. Follow your feet and trust in yourself, maybe Gwen had meant that if she were to listen to her instincts and believe that she was on her way to the classroom that she would get there. The idea seemed a bit crazy but it worked last night so why not try it again.

Asha picked a direction and began walking, hesitant at first but gaining confidence as she went. She soon found herself looking into what she assumed was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. It was already half full of students, none of which she recognized.

As she made her way to an empty seat in the front of the class, she could feel the other students staring at her. Ignoring them the best that she could, she slid into an empty seat next to the boy with greasy hair from the train and waited for the class to begin.

Almost as soon as the class began she knew that Hogwart was going to be very different from the muggle school that she had attended. Hogwarts was a whole new world, the professor spoke about creatures and spells that she had never heard of. By the end of the period her head was swimming with the names of things that she wanted to look up. She wanted to find out as much as possible about these strange things that she could, things that not even her father had mentioned to her.

"How was your first class?" Sean slid into the seat next to her followed by Oliver. She began telling them about Defense and all of the things that Professor Shirley had mentioned. In return the boys described their first class, Charms, and how they were to begin learning spells next week.

Suddenly a white figure burst through the front of the room. "Class, I am Professor Binns. Welcome to History of Magic." He floated to his desk and began taking attendance. When he got to Asha's name he paused and looked out at the students, "Miss Harris." She timidly raised her hand and his eyes landed on her. "The legend is true then."

"Wh- What legend Professor?" She asked as every head in the room turned to face her.

"The one that says that you will one day come to this school of course." He looked out at the faces of his students. "You don't know do you?"

When no one said anything he continued. "Rowena Ravenclaw kept a journal while the school was under construction in which she told the story of when a woman came to the castle. This woman-"

"Please Sir, The Grey Lady told us about that last night in the common room." A girl with an oval face and long blond hair spoke up from the other side of the room.

Professor Binns leaned toward her to see who had spoke, "Miss…"

"Alcott, Sir."

"Is that right, Miss Alcott? I will skip that part then. Lets see…" He closed his eyes like he was trying to remember something that happened a long time ago, "I saw the journal once, Rowena wrote about how she tried to gain more information about the child. She learned that the child would arrive at Hogwarts at a time that he or she would be needed the most. A tragic event was to happen at this school, it was to become a place where no one could be trusted but with the help of the child the school could overcome the challenge. Rowena did not want her beloved school to face any problems so she left an account of the information she gained through her search within the journal. What this part said I can not tell you, that part of the journal was missing and had been for many years. Now, back to the matter at hand, History of Magic."

Whatever he said next Asha did not hear, she was to busy trying to organize her thoughts. She was supposed to save the school? How could she, a 11 year old girl with very little magical knowledge save the school? She couldn't even defend herself in a duel.

In order to save someone or something then that thing has to be in trouble. The school wasn't under attack and it wasn't falling apart. In fact as far as she could tell it was nothing out of the ordinary was going on. But a tragic event? Was someone going to die?

"_The child of the school brings truth in a time when none can be trusted." _Truth about what? Was there something that she had missed? Why her? She wasn't anyone special. She had no special talents or wealth of knowledge. Actually, she probably had less magical knowledge than most of the other first years.

"Are you coming?" Asha looked up to see Sean and Oliver standing with their school bags over their shoulders. Class had ended and most of the students had already left the room.

She picked up her book and slid it into her bag before joining them on their way to the Great Hall for lunch. "Is it just me or are people staring at us?" Asha muttered as they passed a group that was leaving the Great Hall.

"I don't think they are staring at us. I think they are looking at you." Oliver commented. Almost instantly as they walked through the doors to the Hall heads turned toward them. It was like a ripple, first the students closest to them turned and then the ones next to them, all the way to the other side of the room. Apparently what Professor Binns had revealed during class had already made it around the school.

'Great' Asha thought, 'it is only Monday and I still have another class today.'


	5. Chapter 5

"Have you started the essay for History of Magic?" Oliver looked up from his lunch as Asha slid onto the bench across from him. Professor Binns had assigned them a 15 inch essay on the major causes of the third giant war.

Asha shook her head in reply. "Have you?"

"Sean and I started last night, we have about four inches each." He reached for another sandwich, "it's hard to tell the giants apart. All there names are so similar, I wrote a good five inches about Morp only to find out that he was involved in the fifth war, after that I gave up for the night."

She was not looking forward to starting that essay, she was having enough trouble with the transfiguration spell that McGonagall assigned that she hadn't had time to begin the essay, not to mention the work for Charms, Herbology, and Defense. "Did you get a lot of Potions work?"

"Ten inches on how to identify Dittany and its magical properties. But don't worry, you will like the class. It's a load of fun, Sean almost tipped our caldron over and Tara's spoon caught fire." He grinned as he recounted his adventures in the Potions classroom, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement at his classmates' misfortunes.

"Sorry I'm late," Sean lowered himself onto the bench next to her. "I was talking with Simon, Tara, and a couple of Hufflepuffs, we're thinking about getting a group together this weekend to work on our assignments."

"Do you think the professors will mind?" Oliver began on his third sandwhich.

This was the best news that she had heard all week, even better than when she had received the letter from her father that told the species of the mysterious statue. It was good to hear that others were having trouble with their work and that it was not just her. Maybe if they worked together then they could get it all done on time.

Sean swallowed his mouthful before answering, "We can use the same information, how many causes for the war can there possibly be, but as long as we don't copy we should be fine. Tara is really good with spells so we can help each other with those too."

Asha wanted to hug him when she heard the last part. She quickly finished her lunch before heading off to her final lesson of the week, Potions.

She walked the stone halls toward the dungeons, her eyes slowly adjusting to the slight darkness that surrounded her. It was easy enough to find the classroom, ever since her first day when Gwen told her to trust her feet she had been able to find any room that she wanted fairly easily. She was even beginning to learn where thing were in relation to each other, creating a mental map of the castle in her mind.

"Asha, over hear!" James' voice called to her from the far side of the room. He was sitting at a table with Sirius and a boy she recognized as Remus Lupin. James was signaling for her to join them.

As she wound her way around the tables to join them she bumped someone. "Sorry," she smiled at a short, plump, mousy boy named Peter who glared at her.

"Hi James, Remus, Sirius." She greeted them sitting down next to the latter. "May I ask why you were so happy to see me?"

Sirius and Remus laughed at her question. "We rushed from the Great Hall while Peter was still stuffing his face, he has been following us around all week." James sounded put-out by his fellow Gryffindor. Asha looked over to where Peter had joined a table consisting of two giggling Gryffindor girls and a rather annoyed looking Slythern boy.

"You could be a little nicer to him," she turned her attention back to their table. "After all you are the only four Gryffindor boys in our year."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The three boys answered in unison causing her to roll her eyes.

Sirius turned in his seat to face her. "So what it is like being the Child of the School?" Asha smiled at how he made his voice go higher with the title.

"Yeah," Remus leaned across the table to join the conversation. "Do the Ravenclaws still treat you like you are royalty?"

She rolled her eyes again. There was a major difference between how the four houses saw her. The Slytherns in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class kept their distance, only speaking to her when forced. Transfiguration with Hufflepuff was a little different, they tended to be overly nice to her. As for Ravenclaw, she might as well have been the Queen because they watched every little thing that she did, they constantly asked her questions about herself, and generally wanted to be her best friends. The only exception to this was Sean, Oliver was slowly beginning to come around too.

Gyrffindor was a different story. When a Ravenclaw stepped aside to let her pass, a Gryffindor stepped in front of her and announced her presence to everyone in the hall. At first this bothered Asha but after a few days she came to realize that instead of making it worse for her that it was helping her see the humor in the situation.

She dropped her head into her hands and mumbled, "I don't want to talk about it."

"We saw what happened." Sirius' amused voice continued despite her obvious disinterest in the conversation. "We were behind you on the staircase."

Asha groaned and removed her hands so she could see him, "did you really?" The shaggy haired Gryffindor laughed at her horrified face.

On the way up from breakfast at morning she had miss stepped and her foot slid out from under her. Before her body could hit the ground half a dozen people had rushed to catch her and help her up the rest of the stairs.

"Settle down class." Asha sat up straight and turned her attention toward the voice. A slightly round wizard had entered the room and was standing in the front of the class. "I am Professer Slughorn, the Potions Master here at Hogwarts."

"Really?" James whispered rolling his eyes.

"This year you will be introduced to the ancient method of potion brewing. It is a very useful art form and although it does take some time to prefect and create, it is more useful than a charm or spell. Today, we will begin with a simple healing potion." He waved his wand with a flourish and burst of flames appeared beneath the cauldron that sat on between her and Sirius. "Please turn to the person next to you and say 'Hello' because that person is going to be your partner for the year. Now turn to page 37 and begin."

"Hi." Sirius' voice was filled with amusement

"Hi." She answered flipping to page 37.

"I'm Sirius." She looked up from the book. He was holding out his hand to shake hers.

"Asha…" she gave him a strange look but shook his hand anyway.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Asha."

"Can we get to work now?" Sirius reluctantly opened his book, slowly flipping to the correct page. Across the table James was arranging supplies and various knives and spoons out on the table. She scanned the room and found Remus among the group of students that surrounded the supply cabinet. She jotted down the items that were required for the potion before joining them.

When she returned to the work station she found that Sirius had taken out their instruments and had arranged them on the table to form a face. Asha set their ingredients down and pulled her book toward her to read the first direction.

"Begin with a water base." She peered into the cauldron. It held slightly bubbling water that was just shy of breaking into a rolling boil. "When it comes to a boil add one finely chopped large mushroom and stir counterclockwise with a bronze spoon until potion turns deep green." She grabbed the mushroom and looked around for the knife.

"Do I get to chop yet?" Sirius was balancing the knife on its point between his forefinger and table. Asha passed the mushroom to him and watched him massacre it. "Now what?" He asked dumping the pieces into the boiling water.

"Stir until it turns green with this spoon." She held the bronze spoon out to him, he took it and began stirring. While he was doing that Asha read the next set of directions.

"Do I start to add the ground leaves now?"

Asha answered without looking up from the dittany she was measuring, "yes if it has- What is that smell?" Her nose filled with the faint sent of burning hair.

"Er…" Asha looked up from her work to see Sirius staring down into the cauldron. Curious she leaned over it. What should have been a light blue liquid was now dark yellow and emitting the burning smell.

"What did you do?" James laughed from the other side of the table. He had pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose to block the small.

"She said to add the leaves!" Sirius defended himself.

"I said to add them IF!" She responded annoyed.

"You should have said that part first."

"You should have listened or maybe read the directions for yourself." She smacked her hand down onto her book, shaking the table and knocking over the bottle of dittany.

"Watch it!" James snatched his book away and bumped it into Remus' elbow as he carefully added leaves to their potion.

"James!" Remus had dropped the entire vile into the potion. The four watched as the cauldron began to smoke and hiss.

"What is going on here?" The commotion at their table had attracted the attention of Professor Slughorn. Asha kept her mouth shut as he took in the sight of the four of them and their potion disasters. "Settle down and get back to work."

"But Professor, our potions are wrong." Remus explained.

Slughorn leaned over the side of the cauldron between Remus and James. "I see…" He leaned closer and sniffed. "and that smell?"

"That would be ours Sir." Asha spoke up.

"Then I suggest you four make the best of the time that remains and try not to blow up my classroom." He chuckled and walked away.

"Great," Remus threw his hands into the air when the professor was out of earshot, "we are going to fail our first assignment."

Asha began wiping up the spill on the table, "there has to be a way to fix them."

"Or we could just start over." Sirius had lifted up the spoon and was watching the yellow liquid fall back into the cauldron.

Remus set the empty vial on the table. "There isn't enough time. Let's just keep going and hope for the best. We aren't the only ones having issues." Asha looked around the room and saw that the majority of the other students were standing over cauldrons that were emitting a wide assortment of sounds and smells, on the other side of the room someone's had begun to spark.

With new determination Asha turned back to the potion, keeping one eye on everything Sirius did to make sure things didn't get worse. By the end of the class they had managed to make their potion turn the correct color but it was still a few shades darker then it should have been. Across the table James and Remus had achieved the right coloring but their potion kept bubbling even though it was removed from the heat.

"I'm glad that is over." Remus sighed setting his vial of potion of Slughorn's desk.

"Me too." Asha placed hers next to it. "And we get to do it all over again next week."

"With any luck it will go better." Asha made a sound of agreement. Remus lowered his voice, "just as long as those two don't touch anything." He nodded toward the door where James and Sirius were waiting for them. James had nearly put in twice as much wormwood as the instructions said because he had not been paying attention when Remus said that he had already but it in. Remus saw and managed to stop him just in time.

The four made their way out of the dungeons and toward the Grand Staircase. "It's going to take all weekend to finish all the work we have." James complained as they began up the stairs. Once again reminding Asha of all the work she had to do.

"It's not that much," Remus responded. "It's just-"

"Different?" Asha jumped in and finished his sentence. She was used to doing homework, she had been enrolled in a muggle school but at Hogwarts she was learning completely different things. Before she was learning about numbers and the history of the world but now she was learning to mix potions and the different magical being which each had their own histories which intertwined and affected each other in ways that don't happen in the muggle world.

"Exactly. That stupid History of Magic essay." He grumbled the last part.

Asha laughed, "you're not the only one. Some of us are getting together in the library tomorrow to work on the assignments if you guys want to come." How could a few more people hurt, the more people that are there means that more people are working together and the faster things might get done. Sure it was James and Sirius and they could get on her nerves but even they had to do the work, plus Remus seemed like he took school serious.

"Really?" James adjusted his bag, "because I could really use some help."

"Some?" Sirius laughed. James gave him a friendly shove.

Asha ignored him and came to a stop at the foot of a staircase on the second floor. "Sean, Tara, and Simon came up with the idea earlier."

"Who?" Remus questioned also stopping.

She sighed, remembering that they did not have classes with every house like she did. "Ravenclaw." Remus nodded.

"Why did we stop?" James called from down the hall.

"My room is that way." Asha pointed to the stairs and sad her goodbyes to the guys.

She wound her way through the hallways back to her dorm. She was looking forward to tomorrow and to see how the studying would go with the group. She pulled out her Transfiguration book and flipped to page 7. She then began to trace the awkward shape with her wand and say the spell in an attempt to change a blade of grass into a toothpick. So far all she had managed to do was change the color to brown but then again that could have been because the grass was dead and drying out.

A few dozen failed attempts and a loud stomach rumble later she closed the book and added it to the pile to take to the library tomorrow and headed back downstairs for dinner.


	6. Chapter 6

"Useless!" Simon slammed the book shut. Asha looked up from the pages of _Magical Murders of the 14__th__ Century _to see the red-headed Ravenclaw add the book he had been reading to the growing pile of rejected books on the end of the table. He reached for the only book that they had not tried yet. It was a thick volume with a peeling cover and fancy silver letters that read _The complete history of Puglia: The rise and fall of the first Giant Queen_.

She turned her attention back to the page in front of her ignoring the scratching of Remus' quill to her left. The three of them were grouped around a table under one of the windows in the back of library. They were searching for information about the third giant war for their History of Magic essays, taking notes on everything they found to pass on to the others. At the table next to them, James, Oliver, Sean, and a Hufflepuff named Christy were hard at work doing research for the Potions essay. On the other side of them Sirius, Tara and a second Hufflepuff named Anthony were working together in an attempt to chart Saturn's moons.

Asha turned the page, running her finger down the text. "Ha!" She announced triumphantly. She could not contain herself, there was a gap in the information they had found so far but she had finally spotted the answer.

Remus' quill stopped moving. "Took you long enough," he laughed at her sudden outburst.

Making a face at him, she read the passage out loud. "Mordon, Queen Puglia's eldest son, was found dead on the shore on Lake Ructon a short distance from where King Tetra's warriors were camped out. Puglia's warriors believed that Mordon was murdered by Tetra's warriors and attacked the camp early that morning killing all but one. Tetra's warriors were known for their drinking so it is highly unlikely that they were aware that Mordon was nearby, it is more likely that Mordon was hungry and had drowned in an attempt to swim across the lake to reach a well known grazing spot for deer."

"Stupid giants," Simon muttered. "Always drowning in lakes and causing wars."

"Did you get all that?" Asha waited for Remus to stop writing, he was taking notes for the group.

"Mordon, lake, Tetra, attack, drown." He summarized finishing the notes. "Now to actually write our essays."

Asha closed _Magical Murders_ and pulled a clean sheet of parchment and a quill toward her. She glanced over at the notes Remus had diligently taken for them before dipping her quill into the inkpot and beginning. Giants started wars over the smallest things. Mordon's death was just one of the events some of the others included several cows that wondered onto another tribes land, the ownership of a large rock, and the mysterious disappearance of several trees from a mountain side. It was a good thing wizards weren't so eager to attack their neighbors or their might not be any of them left.

"Are you done yet?" Asha looked up at the sound of James' voice a while later. He was standing at the end of the table next to Remus. "Everyone else is done, we're just waiting for you guys."

Thankfully she was almost done or she would have found his interruption incredibly annoying. She took the time to finish her last two sentences before setting her quill down and measuring the length, 18 inches. She smiled with pride before looking around again. Remus had finished before James came over and was now talking to him. Across the table Simon was writing as fast as he could, his thin face scrunched in concentration.

"Do you want to come with us?" Remus was looking at her expectantly.

"Go where?" She asked confused. She hadn't been paying that much attention to their conversation.

"We're going to go explore the grounds after lunch and find all the good spots." James explained.

"I'm doing something with Sean and Oliver but maybe next time." She apologized.

"Doing what?" Remus asked.

Asha opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Simon. "Done," he announced dropping his quill and throwing his hands up.

"See you in a bit then." James snatched the note sheet off of their table and replaced it with a paper that described Saturn's moons before returning to his table.

An hour later Asha shoved the last of her books into her bag. They had finally finished all of the written homework just in time for lunch. She picked up the pile of books that sat on the end of the table and began returning them to their places on the shelves.

"Hi Peter." She almost ran into the short, mousy boy as she rounded a corner.

"Hi." Peter mumbled not making eye contact with her.

"Are you working on your assignments?"

"I'm trying…" He still would not look at her.

Asha played with the corner of the book she was holding, "A group of us just finished, I still have the notes from the Herbology paper if you want them." She felt a bit bad for not inviting him, even though she did not know anything about him other then his name and house.

He finally looked up at her, "Really? That would be great."

Asha shoved the final book into its place before leading Peter back to the table. James and Sirius were sitting together laughing, next to them was Remus' bag. He must have been putting book away also.

"Hi James, Sirius." Peter greeted them. The two friends stopped laughing and looked over.

"Peter." They nodded before returning to their conversation.

Ignoring them, Asha reached into her bag and fished around for the notes. "We're going to do this again next Saturday if you want to join us."

Peter glanced over at Sirius and James, "Maybe."

"You should, it really helps and makes the work go a lot faster." She smiled holding out the pages for him to take.

Peter reached for them. "Thanks, I'll think about it." He glanced at the paper before disappearing back into the rows of books.

Shouldering her bag Asha left the library. She followed the now familiar path through the castle that would lead her to her dorm. She laughed to herself, following her feet was a lot easier now that she knew where she was going and the fear of getting hopelessly lost was beginning to subside.

She passed several people on her walk, none of which she paid much attention to. She was too busy rejoicing over the fact that most of her work was now done. All she had left to do was to practice the spells for Charms and Transfiguration, the two things she was not looking forward to doing. In all of her practicing she was unable to produce anything that resembled the results she wanted. She had turned the darn blade of grass eight different colors but could not get it any closer to looking like toothpick.

"Ms. Harris," A tall figure stood before her in the corridor.

Asha stopped and looked up into the old wizards face. "Hello Professor."

"I trust that you are doing well."

"Yes sir."

"I have noticed that you have become friends with Misters Oberlin and Moore." Dumbledore smiled down at her. She nodded and he continued. "I am pleased that you are not letting your situation keep you from making friends. In my lifetime I have found that having friends affects who you are and who you will become. Once you find your friends hold on to them because if you do not you just might find your self alone." As he spoke his voice began to fade.

"Sir?" Asha had no idea why he was going on like this.

"Don't mind me, Asha." The professor blinked his blue eyes. "Run along, you probably have better things to do then hear an old wizard's life story. I hear that the house elves made apple tarts today."

Asha stared after the Headmaster, curious as to what he meant. Had he expected that she would not be able to make any friends? Sure she might not be one to get up to sing and dance in front of crowds but at the same time she was not afraid to talk to people. Did he know something that she did not?

She shrugged it off and continued back to her common room. She tossed her bag onto her bed, shoved her wand into her pocket and headed back down to the Great Hall.

The sky was a clear as it could possibly get, there was not even a single cloud in the sky to stop the light from the sun from hitting the Hogwarts grounds. Asha and Oliver followed Sean down the steps and across the grounds. Oliver led them over the gentle slopes of the lawn until he finally came to a stop in the middle of a wide, relatively flat area that had several trees on each end.

"Right." He bounced the ball he had been holding on his knee a couple of times. "So these two trees will be the goal." He pointed to two of the tall birch trees that sat about seven feet apart.

"Let's see if I got this, I challenge you for the ball and try to get it though there." Oliver motioned to the trees before continuing, "Only using my feet but the keeper can use their hands."

Sean nodded and faced the goal, dropping the ball onto the grass and trapping it beneath his right foot. "Ready then?"

Asha made her way over to the trees that Sean had motioned to and placed herself between them, ready to stop the ball whenever it came toward her. She watched as Oliver took his place across from Sean. She watched with amusement as Oliver started with the ball and quickly got it taken away form him again and again.

"Wait, I think I finally got it!" Oliver declared a short time later after Sean had gotten the ball from him a handful of times. This time he managed to get around his opponent but was stopped a few steps later when Sean had caught up to him.

Asha stood in the goal and watched the process continue for some time. Slowly, Oliver was getting closer to the goal but the lack of anything for her to do was beginning to get boring until the ball suddenly came flying at her head. Ducking just in time to avoid getting hit by it she heard Oliver yell in celebration, he was doing a victory dance. Asha laughed and chased after the ball.

The next time one of the boys tried to score she was prepared and managed to block it with her leg before it went in. She didn't stop it every time but she did manage quite a few.

"Seriously!" She yelled as Sean sent the ball flying over her head at height impossible for her to reach. She ran after it once again.

"Asha!" James, Remus, and Sirius were walking toward her from the direction of the forest. Curious as to what they were doing there she waited for them to reach her.

"You guys weren't in there were you?" she motioned toward the forest.

James laughed, "No, we were just looking. What is that?" He was staring at the ball by her feet.

"A football. We've been playing." She nodded her head toward the trees where Sean and Oliver were waiting for her.

"Can we watch?" Asha shrugged and led the way back.

"Are you going to join us?" Sean excitedly welcomed the new arrivals. "We can play three on three."

"What are the rules again?" Sirius tried to hid his confusion.

"It's simple really," Sean launched into another explanation of the game and its various rules.

When he finished it was decided that Remus would be the keeper for his team while James and Sirius tried to score. In order to make things a little fairer, Sean decided to show the others a few different techniques for handling the ball.

Bored because this had nothing to do with her position, Asha made her way to the trees that made up one of the goals and sat down in their shade.

Dumbledore was right. She had found friends in different houses and now that she though about it most of the other students kept to their own houses. She would pass groups of older students in the hallways all the time but they would almost always be from the same house. Even in classes where two houses were together there was a clear separation. Was it so strange for different houses to be friends that Dumbledore would mention it to her? He didn't seem angry about it, it was surprise that she has sensed in his voice. Had he expected this to happen?

"Mind if I join you?" Remus' voice brought her back to the Hogwarts grounds. "How are you liking Hogwarts?" He asked sitting next to her.

"It's a lot different then how my dad explained but I think I like it." She answered while watching the others.

"Me too. Is it just you and your dad?"

"Yeah," she plucked a few blades of grass. "My mom worked for the ministry, her job involved experimenting with different things. One day things went bad and yeah."

"Oh."

"I was really little and don't remember it but since then it's been just me and my dad." She shrugged it off in an attempt to let him know that she didn't mind talking about it.

"What does your dad do?" The boy was full of questions.

"He's an artist. He does all sorts of paintings and sculptures."

He seemed to consider this for a few seconds. "Can't he just use magic to make them?"

Asha laughed. "He does them for muggles. He is gotten quite popular actually."

"What is his name?"

She stuck her arm out to grab the ball as it rolled by. "Charles Harris." She tossed the ball back to the others.

"No!"

Asha gave him a curious look. "Yes…"

"My mom loves him. We have one of his paintings hanging in our dining room." He grinned.

"That is a little weird," she laughed. "How does your mom know about him?"

"She is a muggle. We have a lot of muggle things that way when her friends come around we don't have to explain."

The two fell into silence as they watched Sean explain to the others what a foul was. This was a direct result of James tackling Sirius for the ball.

"I hate grass." She tossed the blade she had been absently playing with.

"Trouble with Transfiguration?" Remus laughed at her sudden outburst. She glared at him. "Take out your wand." As he spoke he pulled his own out.

"This isn't going to work." Asha was beginning to think that she would never be able to turn the grass into a toothpick but she pulled her wand out of her pocket anyway.

To demonstrate, Remus waved his wand and said the spell. The little green blade he had selected curled itself and turned brown. Asha snatched it up to inspect it. Sure enough it was a toothpick. She stared it him openmouthed.

"Your turn."

Sighing, she waved her wand and said the word but nothing happened.

"You have the right movement and pronunciation, maybe you aren't concentrating enough."

Asha stared at the blade of grass, narrowed her eyes and tried again. Nothing.

"Maybe you're not a witch."

Her jaw dropped.

"I was kidding!" he defended himself quickly. "Try again."

She did try again but still nothing happened. Maybe he was right and she wasn't a witch after all. Maybe her letter had been a mistake after all squibs exist.

"You're doing it backwards!" Asha looked up to find that Sirius was watching them from across the way.

"What?" She yelled back confused.

Instead of yelling back he jogged over to them. "You're left handed like my uncle. He does all of the movements the opposite way."

"What do you mean?"

"Instead of going from right to left think of it as from outside to inside."

"So I would do it from left to right?" she was trying to understand what he was saying.

"Try it."

She looked to Remus for advice. He shrugged. Why not, how could to possibly make things worse. She pointed her wand and the much hated blade of grass and said the spell while doing the new wand movement.

To her amazement the grass transformed itself into a toothpick. It was still green but it was a huge jump in the right direction. She picked it up and spun it between her fingers, too shocked to say anything.

"You're welcome." Sirius laughed.

She looked up to see him smiling down at her. "Thank you. I am too a witch!" she shoved the toothpick in Remus' face.

"Good to know," a smile spread across his face.

"Are we going to play or not?" The three turned at the sound of Sean's voice. Asha tossed the green toothpick to the side and stood up and stowing her wand in her pocket she took her place in the goal and waited for the others to take theirs.


	7. Chapter 7

"I want you all to work on transfiguring your button back into a beetle by next class." Professor McGonagall assigned their homework. All week they had been working on turning the beetle into a button and now she wanted them to turn it back. "The transformation of an animal into an object can at times be simple but to return it to its original form can be harder. Try not to kill your beetle." She returned to her desk dismissing the class.

Asha opened her bag and slid her book and quill inside. "Miss. Harris," she looked up at the use of her name. "Please stay, I would like a word." McGonagall was watching her from behind her desk.

Curious as to what the professor could want with her she shouldered her bag and made her way to the front of the class. She had done all of her assignments, wasn't disruptive in class, and had improved considerably since the first week thanks to Remus and Sirius. She might not be the top in the class but at least she could achieve the wanted results with a bit of time and practice.

"Yes Professor?" She stopped in front of McGonagall's desk.

McGonagall leaned forward in her chair before speaking. "It has come to the attention of myself and the other professors that some of your fellow first years may be cheating on their assignments. Cheating is not tolerated at Hogwarts. If you know anything about this it would be best if you told me now."

Her eyes widened. She hadn't thought of it as cheating, it was helping each other. Sure they did the work together but they all did their own work. Could they really get in trouble for that?

"I didn't know it was cheating," she began to explain. "All we do is help each other."

"How is that?" If the professor had been looking for someone who would go to great length to explain she had chosen the right student. Asha explained to her why they had started the group and how they work together to complete the work. She explained how they divide the courses up and each work on one thing then swap, giving any helpful information to the next group. It was 'pooling their resources' as Sean had called it.

"And it's grown," Asha was finishing. "We started with about ten people but I think everyone in the first year has come at least once, most people are there every week. We have had to change the way we do things because of all the people."

She paused and looked at the witch's face. She seemed to be studying the first year. "Has this group helped?"

"Yes, very much." Asha continued to defend it. "Sometimes the things that you and the other professors say do not make sense to everyone, especially the muggleborns. It is extremely helpful to have people around that can explain it again or in some cases in a way that you can actually understand."

The professor smiled, "How long has this been going on for?"

"Since the start of term, Professor." She answered with out hesitation.

"Is that right." Asha nodded. "Thank you for clearing this up Miss. Harris. I will allow you and your fellow students to continue working this way but be advised that if I hear even the slightest clue that students are being untruthful there will be repercussions."

Once again Asha nodded to show that she understood. "Before you go," Professor McGonagall spoke again, scratching something onto a piece of parchment. "Take this with you, Professor Flitwick will understand why you are late."

She took the folded paper and thanked the professor before heading to the Charms classroom. She had never been late before and here she was walking the halls of Hogwarts when she should have been in class. She made a mental note to tell the others about her meeting with McGonagall so that they had a fair warning just incase someone decided to cheat.

Asha climbed the stairs in silence. The castle was oddly quiet when everyone was in class. It was a little spooky to be honest. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like to walk the halls at night when everyone was in bed and only the ghosts were about.

At the top of the stairs she paused and looked out the window at the grounds below. She was pleased to see that there was a thin layer of white on the ground that covered the grass. They had gotten their first snow of the season on Tuesday and some if it still remained. She could not stop the smile that spread across her face, snow meant winter and winter meant Christmas. She was eager to tell her father about all the things she was learning at school, maybe even show him a few of the spell she had learned.

Aware that she was at least fifteen minutes late for Charms, Asha turned from the window and speed toward the third floor.

The heavy wooden door creaked open when she pushed it. She found herself standing in front of a room full of Gryffindors who all looked up when she entered. Standing on a pile of books behind his podium was Professor Flitwick.

"Nice of you to join us." He frowned.

"I'm sorry Sir." She crossed the room to him and held the parchment out to him, "from Professor McGonagall."

She waited as the wizard unfolded the note, his expression changed to a smile as he read it. "Very well, Miss Harris. Please take your seat. I am sure Mr. Lupin would be more than happy to fill you in." Asha smiled in thanks and made her way to her usual seat next to Remus in the second row.

"Are you in trouble?" James whispered from the seat behind her before she sat down.

"No," she answered sliding into her seat.

"Then why are you late?" He sounded like he was leaning forward over his desk.

Asha reached down into her bag for her book and turned her head to him as she did so. "Tell you later." This seamed to satisfy the Gryffindor for now as she heard the creak of wood as he leaned back in his seat once again.

She placed her book in front of herself and leaned over to see what page Remus had his open to. "142." The sandy haired boy informed her with a smile.

"Thanks." Asha smiled back, flipping to the right page. At the front of the room Professor Flitwick had continued his lecture. She stared at him, slightly confused having missed the first portion of the class.

A gentle nudge in the arm made her look down. Remus slid his notes across the small space between them. She skimmed his neat handwriting before copying them down, making sure to still listen to what the professor was saying. He was lecturing on the theory behind charm _Lumos _and its counter charm _Nox_.

Asha had never thought of using her wand as a light before. It would be extremely helpful in different situations. No longer would she have to grope around in the dark to find a light switch and that would also mean that she wouldn't have to navigate a room full of furniture and other hazards to find said light switch. She was beginning to really like magic.

"Now everyone try. Flick your wand and say the incantation _'Lumos'._" He demonstrated for the class. There was a rustle as the students picked up their wands and gave it a try. Because of the class being held during the day in a room full of windows nothing happened but Flitwick seamed pleased either way. He made his rounds, commenting on technique and pronunciation.

Asha took this time to turn to the others and give them a brief explanation of why she was late. "So we are still allowed to meet?" Remus asked.

She nodded in reply.

"Good it's easier to concentrate when everyone is working like that." James tapped out a rhythm with the end of his wand.

"All right you four. Lets see it." Professor Flitwick had reached them. They each demonstrated the charm for him. "Good good," the wizard clapped his hands once and headed back to the front of the class. "You may have noticed that it is hard to see if it is working in such a bright room so I have set up a challenge in the room across the hall. Your homework is written on the board at the far end of the room. In pairs you will enter and use Lumos to navigate the room, once you and your partner have completed the task you are free to leave."

A buzz of excitement filled the room and Asha was curious to see the charm work. She had big expectations for its results. No more bruised shins or stubbed toes.

"Miss Jones and Miss Germond, you will go first followed by Mr. Pettigrew and Miss Fletcher." A blond girl who had been sitting in front of Asha stood up, as did a brown haired girl on the other side of the room.

While they waited for their names to be called Asha filled them in with more details about the conversations she had with McGonagall.

"Why did she ask you and not the entire class? Did she think you were the one responsible for the entire thing?" James questioned, once again tapping his wand on the table.

"I don't know." Asha had not thought about this. She could have asked anyone but she had chosen her.

"Maybe she thinks you're special." Asha laughed along with the boys. Much of the school had accepted her for who she was but there was still the odd person who would avoid her in the halls or stare as she passed.

"Time to break up your little group I think." Flitwick spoke from his podium. "Mr. Lupin you will go with Miss River." Remus picked up his wand and followed a tall girl out of the room. Looking around, Asha noted that apart from them there was only one person left, a girl with red hair who's name she could not remember. The girl was bent over a piece of parchment, her quill moving quickly as she wrote.

"What is Remus doing in there?" Sirius sighed. Asha laughed, Remus and his partner were taking longer than those before him did.

Finally he reappeared in the doorway, closely followed by his partner. When he reached them he rolled his eyes. "That girl is so augh!" he clenched his fists. "She only wrote down half of the assignment so we had to go back." He vented his frustrations in a low voice.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evens." Flitwick called the next two names.

"See you on the other side." James spun his wand and headed for the door.

"I'm going to go drop off my things in the dorm before lunch. Meet you there?" Remus asked reaching for his bag.

"Don't I always." Sirius answered. "Although since you took so long in there I won't have time to get back to the dorm so we might as well meet in the Great Hall. Unless…" The dark haired boy looked innocently up at his friend.

Remus stuck out his hand. "Give me your bag," he said rolling his eyes. Asha shook her head at the boys as Remus took Sirius' bag and slung it over his shoulder alongside his own before departing.

"He is too nice to you." Asha commented once Remus had left.

Sirius laughed, "I know and sometimes I take advantage of it, like now." Asha was surprised that he admitted it. "Although I would do the same for him if he asked, but he never has." She admired the friendship that the three boys seemed to have. It was more of a brotherhood actually, they did everything together and as she had just witnessed, they were willing to go out of their way for each other. It was the kind of relationship she wished she could have with a friend, sure she had friends but none that she was as close to as they seemed to be.

To the amazement of Asha, James returned rather quickly from the challenge. "Where's Remus?" he asked approaching them.

"He took our stuff to the dorm."

"See you at lunch?"

"Yep." Sirius pushed back his chair. "Shall we?"

Asha picked up her wand and followed him from the room and across the hall. The inside of the room was pitch black, she tried to get a feel for the room before the door closed but had no luck. The door closed with a thud behind her.

Everywhere he looked was dark. She tried finding the door again to make sure she was facing into the room but she could not even spot a sliver of light so show the bottom of the door or a keyhole.

"Sirius?" She tried to find him but there was no response so she tried a little louder. "Sirius? This isn't funny. Where are you?" Still nothing. "Lumos!" her wand flickered for a second before fading. She wasn't concentrating enough. Maybe if she had some idea of where she was in the room and not floating about in darkness. In an attempt to find a solid object she reached out her hand. Almost immediately her fingers touched something soft. Curious as to what it was she stepped closer and moved her fingers across it.

Out of the darkness came Sirius' now familiar laugh and it sounded very close.

"Lumos!" Asha tried again. This time the tip of her wand light up, illuminating a five root circle around her.

"Hi." Sirius laughed. He was standing directly in front of her. If he was there then that must mean…

"Sorry," embarrassed, she let go of his sleeve. Asha saw a smile spread across his face. "Let's just get this finished with."

"Sounds good, I'm hungry."

Asha led the way through the maze of desks and chairs toward the opposite side of the room. Their progress slow due to the small size of the illuminated area. Half way across the room the light began to flicker and fade until it finally went out.

"Why did you- ouch!" Sirius must have walked into something.

Asha tried to relight her wand but nothing happened. "I didn't do it and now I can't get the charm to work again!" The words came out harsher then she intended. "You try."

"Lumos!" Sirius' voice called out from her right. Once again the room around them was light. He smiled at her. "Let's keep going."

This time Asha followed him through the maze of stuff until they reached the board with the assignment written on it. Sirius held up his wand while Asha jotted down what was written there. As soon as she had written the last letter the light disappeared once again.

"Lumos! Lumos! LUMOS!" Sirius yelled from the darkness but this time no light appeared.

Struck with an idea, Asha raised her wand and said the charm. At once end of her wand light up and the pair made their way back through the room. The diameter of the lighted area was larger this time allowing them to move slightly quicker. As if on cue her wand went out when they reached the halfway mark. This time Sirius was prepared and the room instantly filled with light again and they could escape the room.

"Well done Mr. Black, Miss Harris." Professor Flitwick was waiting for them when they reentered the Charms classroom. "Lunch has just begun so you have plenty of time."

"Thank you sir." Asha followed her fellow student to their desks and grabbed her bag.

"Food," Sirius' stomach gave an audible rumble as he said the word.

She laughed, "I'll see you later then." She shouldered her bag and turned to leave.

"Wait!" She heard Sirius' footsteps catching up with her. "Aren't you coming to lunch?"

"Yes but I have Herbology after. I have to go get my stuff for class since I won't have time after." She explained turning a bend in the corridor.

"You'll be late for lunch…"

Was food all he though about? "It will only take a few minutes. I will have plenty of time to eat."

They walked in silence until they reached the staircase that would lead Sirius down to the Great Hall. "Would you mind if I went with you?" He seemed curious to see where her common room was.

Asha shrugged, "sure. It's this way." She led him around another corner and up a circular stair case. She did not see the harm in showing him her rooms; they were friends after all weren't they. Besides Dumbledore never said that she could not show people where it was, in fact he never said anything about it to her. It was her room so she should be allowed to show it to people.

"Where are we?" Sirius asked as they approached the tapestry of the moving tree.

She smiled and pulled him up the short flight of steps. "Hi Gwen."

"Hello my dear. Who is your friend?" Asha noticed that Sirius jumped when the statue began to speak.

She quickly introduced Sirius and the statue before leading the boy through the entryway. Once inside she left him in the middle of the room and entered her bedroom. Wanting to be quick so they would not miss anymore of lunch she pulled the books that she no longer needed from her bag and replaced them with her Herbology one.

"Ready." She returned to find Sirius standing in the middle of the room, his eyes moving about.

He gave a small start when she spoke and turned to face her. "You really live here?" He motioned to the wall of windows as he spoke.

"Yeah," she smiled proud of the view she had. "It is built at just the right angle so that I can watch the sun rise from the right east most windows in my room and set through those ones there." She indicated the left most set of windows in the room.

"Amazing," he breathed taking a step closer to look out the windows. "Ready then?" He turned his back to the view a few seconds later. Asha nodded and followed him from the room. The others were probably wondering where Sirius was and Sean and Oliver were probably wondering where she was.

Asha led the very lost Gryffindor through the castle on the now familiar path to the Great Hall. Once they arrived they entered to find that most of the seats were already taken by students that were stuffing their faces with food, the aroma from the meats, sauces, and other dishes was slightly intoxicating.

"There," Sirius pointed to a spot toward the middle of the Gryffindor table. Asha followed his gesture until she saw what he was pointing at. James and Remus were sitting across from one another and next to James were Simon and Oliver. Without thinking twice Asha headed to the empty space next to Remus that was just wide enough to seat two.

"About time you two made it." James commented as they sat.

"We got a little held up." Sirius responded while reaching for the jug of pumpkin juice. She wasn't sure why but she was glad he hadn't told the others where they had been. She might have shared it with one person but that did not mean she was ready to become a tour guide.

"At least you weren't paired with Agatha River." Remus shuttered when he said the girls name. "You got lucky, getting Lily. No wonder you got out of there so fast, that girl is brilliant." He seamed a little annoyed with Flitwick's choice of pairings.

James shrugged, "I guess."

From where she was sitting she could see the head table behind James' head. As he leaned forward to for another chicken leg she got a glimpse of Dumbledore. He seemed to be looking in her direction with a smile on his face. Was he watching them? Was he watching her?

Maybe it had something to do with what he had said to her in the hall during her first week. What was it? Something about not letting the houses get in the way of making friends. Was he watching because there were currently two Ravenclaws sitting at the middle of the Gryffindor table talking and laughing together?

She waited for James to lean forward again so that she could get another look at the Headmaster but he seemed to be content with the food on his plate.

"What are you all doing for Christmas?" James' voice broke her train of thought. "My parents always have a big party and it's usually really boring but they said I could invite some friends if I wanted."

"You want us to come to a boring party?" Remus questioned.

"Yes, so that it will be less boring." James clarified his logic before taking another bite off of his chicken leg.

"Then I guess I could ask my parents."

"What about you the rest of you? Asha?"

She looked up from her plate when he said her name. "It's up to my dad." Part of her wanted to say 'yes' she would love to see her friends over the break but at the same time she wanted the time to spend with her father.

James swallowed his mouthful and smiled. "Based on the last meeting of our parents, I will take that as a 'yes'." He then turned his attention to Sean and Oliver next to him. Sean explained that his family had planed a trip to Spain this year and would be leaving the day after he got home. Oliver's family was heading to India to visit his older brother who was a healer at hospital there.

"Sirius?" Asha looked at the person next to her. He was staring into his half empty plate.

"I would but my family always does a big thing too. I don't think they would let me out of it." He looked up as he finished.

"Spoilsport," James muttered.


	8. Chapter 8

Asha glanced at the clock on the mantel. 5:17. They were going to be late. "Dad!" she yelled at the ceiling in an attempt to notify him of the time.

There was no answer.

"Dad!" she called again from the bottom of the stairs, tapping her foot. Still there was no answer. Sighing, she began up the stairs. What could be keeping him? He said he would be ready at 5 and that they would leave for the Potter's at 5:15. It was now approaching 5:20 and she was getting very impatient.

"Dad?" she knocked softly on the door at the end of the hall knowing that he was probably in there. "We're late."

Asha could hear shuffling on the other side of the door and waited for him to emerge. She wasn't allowed in his studio, she never had been. He said that it would ruin the magic of seeing a finished painting if she knew how it was created. She never argued this point with him because it was interesting to see the blank canvas enter the room and reemerge with a flawless picture across it. But at the same time she wondered what process was involved in the making of these paintings that had half of the town knocking on their door.

The door opened a bit and her father stuck his head through. "I'll be down in a minute."

Almost as suddenly as it had appeared, his head retreated back behind the door.

Defeated, Asha returned to the living room to wait. It was no use trying to pull him away from his work. Once he started on something he could not stop until he was satisfied with the piece and no amount of complaining from her could draw him out of that room. This was a fact that she had learned a long time ago.

Last year when she got back at the end of the day from the muggle school having received an excellent mark on a test that she had spent days studying for, he father was hidden in that studio. Asha went about her evening as usual, fixing herself leftovers and working on her homework. It wasn't until nine that evening that her father finally emerged and found her test sticking out of her Science book.

They arrived at the Potter's house at 5:50, having apperated exactly 30 minutes after they had intended. It was a good thing dinner was not until 6:30.

"Sorry," Her dad apologized when Mrs. Potter opened the door to greet them. "I got a little caught up in work."

Mrs. Potter laughed and ushered them into her home. From the entry she could see through the door to the dining room where she spotted a long wooden table set with dishes that seemed to sparkle as they reflected the light from the chandelier. Red and green centerpieces lined the table in silver bowls. In front of her was a dark wood staircase leading to the upper floor of the house, the railing held a strand of Christmas ivy wound around its posts.

Mrs. Potter opened a door to their right and offered to take their coats. Thanking her, Asha removed hers and handed it to Mrs. Potter who then jammed them into the already overflowing collection of winter wear.

"Everyone is in the sitting room. Follow me." She guided them though a door opposite the dining room.

The room was decorated with strands of green and red, stocking hung over the fire place, a giant tree sat in one corner completely covered with decorations, it looked like Christmas exploded. Among the decorations people milled about, talking and laughing in groups in all parts of the room, Asha recognized none of them.

"We Potters really get into our holiday celebration." Mr. Potter laughed from behind them. "Come, I will introduce you to everyone."

For the next 20 minutes Asha was lead around the room and asked the same questions over and over about Hogwarts. How was she liking it? What was her favorite class? Had she been to this part of the castle yet? She was growing bored of answering questions but the adults seemed always have yet another for her.

A friend of Mrs. Potter was telling her a lengthy story about her time at Hogwarts when she heard it. It stared off as a low buzzing in her left ear but slowly began to grow. She turned her head from side to side in search of the source, no longer paying attention to the story. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a hand retreating from the frame, as if someone grabbed it as then ran round the corner.

The buzzing grew from one ear to both. She knew this jinx and the person responsible for it. Asha politely excused herself from the conversation and weaved her way though the room in the direction on the doorway.

This room was lined with books. Every wall was covered from floor to ceiling with pages and pages of words bound together and covered in deep red, green, blue, and black leathers. A table in the center held a few books piled at the center; at once she recognized these as James' school books. At the far end of the room sat two comfortable looking arm chairs in front of what appeared to be a window with its curtains drawn.

The buzz was getting louder. Asha looked about the room for any sign of her attackers. There was no other way into or out of the library besides the door that she had just come though so they had to be in here somewhere. But where? If they were behind the chairs, she would be able to see their feet and there was no other furniture for them to hide behind.

Maybe there was a secret passage behind one of the shelves, Asha thought while looking around. You know the ones where you pull a book out or turn the head on a bust. She had just begun considering the best location of such a passage when she saw something move.

It was the very edge of the long curtain that covered what she supposed was a window. She watched it for a minute but it did not move again. It must have been a breeze coming though the open window.

Her head bounded with the volume of the buzzing. About to give up on this room and check the sitting room again, Asha turned to leave the room. From where she was standing she could see a tall window in the other room that matched the one in the library. The curtains in the sitting room were open, revealing a window seat.

Asha marched across the room to the window and fling back the hangings. James Potter and Remus Lupin froze where they were, James' wand clutched in his hand.

"Hi." James smiled up at her once the shock of being found wore off.

"Make. It. Stop." Asha could barely make out what he had said to her over the sound in her head.

James muttered something that she could not understand and gave his wand a flick. At once the buzzing came to an end.

"How do you like Hogwarts?" James said in a high voice attempting to imitate the women in the other room.

Asha rolled her eyes and took a seat on the other side of Remus. The seat was wide enough for all three of them to fit comfortably side by side and deep enough for them to pull their feet up if they leaned back against the window.

The three of them sat in the window for some time. They talked about what they had done so far on holiday, school work, and what they thought Sirius, Sean, and Oliver were up to at that very moment.

"He is probably stuffing his face with roast." Remus said about Sirius.

Eventually Mr. Potter came looking for them to call them to dinner. Asha found herself toward one end of the table seated between her father and Remus' mom. Remus sat between his parents and James sat near the other end next to his father.

The table was covered with foods that Asha found smelt delicious. She could hardly wait to try them and was excited when dishes began to be passed. Around her people were discussing friends and recent ministry events. Asha knew nothing about what they were talking of so she kept quite and continued to work her way through the amazing meal that rivaled the feasts at Hogwarts.

"There's a new rumor goin' round." A wizard half way down the table announced, gaining the attention of the entire table. "'Course Dumbledore's tryin' to keep it quiet, but wit that many students I'm surprised it didn't come out before."

What was he talking about. Asha couldn't think of anything happening at school that Dumbledore would want to keep quiet. The only things that happened at Hogwarts was that students went to classes, nothing exciting. As far as she knew nothing big happened because if it had she would have heard, she had after all witnessed how quickly things spread through the school. Asha could tell you that the Head boy and girl had been caught kissing in a closet on the second floor, the same Head girl that had a boyfriend of two years. There had been a standoff between the two seventh years outside the History of Magic classroom where curses were fired and several bystanders had been hit by stray spells. They had both received a weeks worth of detention and lost 40 house points each.

"Are you going to tell us or not Finn? You can't say there is a rumor and then stop." The woman across the table from him urged him to continue.

Up and down the table there were sounds of agreement.

"Well," Finn began. "I 'erd from Gregory Franks, his daug'ter is a fifth year in 'ufflepuff, that there is a student at 'ogwarts who I'm lead to believe isn't sorted into a 'ouse. Load of rubbish if you ask me."

There was surprised looks from everyone at the table. Asha wanted to become part of the chair. She chanced a look down the table to James who's face had a look of shock, his fork frozen half way to his mouth. She couldn't see Remus but she was positive his face looked similar.

She wasn't sure exactly how it happened or who asked it but everyone was looking at the three first years, who also happened to be the only Hogwarts students in the room, waiting to see if they knew anything. James, who finally put down his fork, was opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to think of something to say.

"Technically she has a house." Remus was the first of the three to speak.

As soon as he said this the room burst with questions. Who was this girl? What did he mean? Why was Dumbledore trying to keep it a secret? Did they know her?

"Kind of." James answered the last question with a smile.

This caused more questions from the adults. One seemed to take over with all the adults asking it. What was she like?

"She's nice." Remus answered. Asha heard a hit of amusement in his voice.

"A little pushy though." James chimed in.

"She's really good at Charms."

"Complete rubbish at Potions though. Remember when her cauldron started hissing and Slughorn made everyone leave the room in case it blew up," laughed James.

Asha couldn't stop herself.

"That wasn't my fault! If you and Sirius hadn't-" She stopped when she realized that everyone was staring at her.

"Asha?" Her dad was looking at her with curiosity.

She soon found herself telling the story of her sorting and what the hat had said to her. She told them about going to Dumbledore's office and how he had explained that while she might not be in one of the other houses she was still a student and responsible for the same things as the other students. She told them that she had a common room to herself. This caused another round of questions about its location but all she said was that it was in a spare room in one of the towers.

She wanted to tell them things but was unsure of what she should tell them. Dumbledore had to have a reason for wanting to keep it quiet. The fact that she hadn't even told her father, she knew how he felt about magic and didn't want to give him a reason to take her out of school.

By the time Asha got done answering everyone's questions, dessert had been brought out and eaten. It wasn't until Mr. Potter announced that there was coffee in the sitting room that she got a break.

As she got up from the table her father caught her eye. She could tell by the look that he gave her that they would be having a talk when they got home and sure enough, they did.

She had expected that he would demand to know everything that had happened from the time the Hogwarts Express left the station to the time it arrived back for the Christmas Holiday. Instead he was more interested to know why she had not told him.

The day finally came that Asha and the others students were to return to Hogwarts for the second half of the year. She couldn't be more excited. Ever since the party at the Potter's, her dad had been treating her differently. He did not seem to trust that she was telling him the whole story and would keep asking her the same questions over and over as if he was expecting a different answer each time.

"That's her."

"Over there."

"Next to the boy with glasses."

Asha made her way through the crowd with James, ignoring the voices around her. Apparently she wasn't the topic of discussion at just the Potter's house over break. Her dad had dropped her off at the Potter's yesterday before rushing off to a meeting at a gallery in Dublin. Mr. Potter had left them at the entrance to the platform, having had to stop by Diagon Alley for something.

The pair continued to wander the platform in search of their friends. Remus had said he would meet them by the engine of the train but there was no sign of him, Asha assumed that he was running a little late. As for the others they just hoped they would run into them.

"Is that Sean?" James pointed through a crowd. Asha felt James grab her wrist and let him pull her across the platform toward him. On the other side they found Sean and Oliver saying goodbye to their parents. Not wanting to interrupt, they stood a few paces away from the group and waited.

Eventually Sean noticed them and called them over for some very awkward introductions.

"Sorry about them." Oliver apologized as the four of them headed back toward the front of the train.

"That was nothing compared to what happened on Christmas Eve." Asha shared a smile with James.

"What happened?" Sean asked looking from one to the other.

Asha glanced around at the other people on the platform. Here and there people were watching them, not even bothering to pretend that they weren't when she made eye contact with them.

"Nothing major but we'll tell you on the train if you really want to know," She did not feel like drawing any more attention to herself.

"It was funny though," James chimed in. "You should have seen her face when they started talking about Hogwarts."

By now that had made their way back to the engine of the train. They pushed their way through a large group of Hufflepuff sixth years to find a familiar face waiting for them on the other side.

"Sorry I'm late. I had trouble finding my potions book." Remus smiled at them. "Is Sirius here?"

In the little time she had known him; Remus had never misplaced anything or been late. He was the most prompt and organized person she knew. She was about to comment on this but the train whistle blew, letting them know that it was almost time to go.

"We'd better get on. Our compartment is all the way at the end. Sirius will find us on the train." James took control of the group and led them once again down the familiar platform and to the far end of the train.

Asha led the way into the compartment at the persistence of the guys. "Ladies first." They mocked, bowing down to her. She rolled her eyes at them and flopped onto the seat by the window. Her favorite thing to do when traveling anywhere was to stare out the window and to watch the buildings and fields fly past.

The boys piled into the remaining seats just as the Hogwarts Express began to move and Oliver began to recount how his little sister had almost burnt down their brother's house. He was just finishing telling them about how the candle flew from her hand and landed in the tree, when the door to the compartment slid open.

"Nice of you to join us, Black." James grinned up at his friend.

Asha looked up the new arrival just in time to see his face change from a frown to a smile. Sirius greeted them before sinking into the seat across from Asha. She thought she heard a small sigh from him but she was not sure.

"How was your holiday?" Remus asked him, Oliver's story no longer important to them.

"The same as usual, you know how families are." He did not make eye contact with any of them as he spoke and Asha got the feeling that there was something that he was not saying. "How was your's?"

James and Remus laughed before launching into a very detailed rendition of the events of Christmas Eve.

"Oh man, I wish I had been there." Sean managed to say through his laughter after James described the look on Asha's face when everyone found out that it was her.

Asha stopped paying attention to them and turned to the window to watch the country side pass by. She envisioned herself in the fields, walking though the tall grass, alone with no one to bother her with more questions.

Hours later, Asha opened her eyes to the setting sun and the overwhelming feeling that she was being watched. It was Sirius. He was positioned toward the window with his head resting on the cool glass. Asha caught his eye and gave him a weak smile that he returned.

"Sleeping Beauty awakes." James announced spotting that she had moved.

Asha aimed a foot at his shins but his reflexes were too quick for her. He pulled his legs onto the seat and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Anyone for a game of exploding snap?" Oliver asked the group, pulling a pack from a hidden pocket in his coat. Minutes later the four boys where deep into the game, Asha and Sirius were appointed referees. James and Sean shared the crown from most competitive in their year, they had learned early on that any game involving the two had to have a referee just in case someone got a little to into the game.

At first Sirius sat back and watched the game take place but when James declared himself the victor of the first round, he suddenly became animated and began arguing with his fellow Gryffindor.

A while later the train came to a rest and the first years practically fell off of the train racing each other to the carriages that would take them to the school, all arguments long forgotten.


End file.
